No one misses a chance to visit the Eiffel tower if at all if they visit Paris. We have seen in many films how the Eiffel tower symbolized romance and love. Though it was built for different reasons, the Eiffel Tower is a major tourist attraction to date. The magnificent 1000 feet tower stands to the South of the beautiful seine river.
Into the history of the Eiffel
The French government held a competition to build a monument for the exposition Universelle. It was held to commemorate and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the french revolution which imbibed citizens of France with liberty, equality, and fraternity. Out of 100s of proposals, the Eiffel tower was finalized. Though it had different plans and features at the start, yet, it retained a few of them today. It was built to be the gateway to the exposition Universelle. It was named after the person who built it, Gustave Eiffel. All the elements used in its construction were made in Gustave’s factory. Stephen Sauvestre was the architect who beautifully designed the monument and finished its construction in a period of just 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days.
The tower that moves and expands!!!
This monument is a perfect example of math and architecture. Four columns separated at the base are eventually raised to join at the top by metal grinders. The architect carefully designed it to resist the wind as far as possible. The tower also can expand due to the sunlight. It was renovated many times since the 1980s to adapt to various needs of the tourists.
Gripping facts about the tower
- The tower was built to be a temporary one and to be torn after 20 years …..yet, it’s in front of us today standing magnificently.
- It was initially hated by the residents of Paris and thought that the black huge tower would spoil the beauty of the city.
- In 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered the demolition of the tower, luckily the general did not follow it.
- It has a secret apartment at the top of the tower. Who knows what’s happening in it. Visit yourself, you might get a view!!
- No mechanical painting is allowed to renovate the tower. If you want to repaint it, take a bucket and brush. Oh! Didn’t I mention it’s 1000 meters long!
Blissful view….
The tower always stages different events like light shows, centenary, multi-colored tower to celebrate its 120th anniversary, blue color celebrating France’s presidency of the EU. It also celebrates the birthdays of famous people. No wonder it is the most visited monument that people pay for. Around 7 million tourists visit the Eiffel tower per year making it 300 million since its opening.
The tower is known to be representing the character of the city. Even today, it is a dream for many of us to visit the Eiffel tower at least once in our lifetime.
-by Krishna Amrutha
Content Writer (Erakina By RTMN)
13-11-2021